I'm sorry this post is going up after a few of the games have already started or finished in Round Two of the World Cup. I've previewed the first three sections of the World Cup bracket, trying to include whatever relevant storylines or game snippets were useful. I'll be brief now, to post this as soon as possible.

@byedidia In general, I tend to dislike fairly short draws, simply because they don't let me get the fans (such as myself) get as interesting of a game. At the same time, I recognize that it frequently makes a lot of sense for these draws to occur, and I think that's what happened here. Aronian as Black is happy with a draw, since he thinks he can win as White. Yifan, as White, is probably less happy with a draw, but not entirely disappointed given that she's lower-rated.

I also don't think that this game really reeks of being prearranged/intentionally drawn, which is another factor that matters for me. I think that Yifan pretty clearly doesn't miss the drawing opportunity for Aronian, but she sees it as the best course of action at the time, and Aronian has no other choice in the position:

Hou Yifan–Levon Aronian

Other than Rf1+, Aronian has no other options.

Of course, my thoughts on GM Yifan's thought process are only speculations, but that's why I'm not entirely frustrated at the game rather than just shrugging my shoulders. Especially since we have many other great games to watch from the same tournament! What do you think of this game?